Lewis Hamilton, for the second time this season, finished both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice on top of the time sheets.

Hamilton looked like he may run with it at the end of FP1 and it looked like Mercedes were on their way to stamp their dominance on the weekend but come FP2 it was a different story. The top 4 in FP2 were just separated by 0.108s setting up another exciting qualifying battle on Saturday.

With rain threatening both sessions, the drivers were out on track early and got in some good mileage. Proper rain started falling with 10min remaining in FP2 which effectively ended the day of running.

Free Practice 1

Hamilton stamped his authority on FP1 by setting the fastest lap of the session on the soft compound tyres, 0.359s clear of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who could only manage a 1:34.358 on the ultra soft tyres.

Hamilton and Bottas did not run the ultra soft tyre in FP1 which made their times all the more impressive. Bottas managed 3rd fastest nearly half a second off Hamilton.

The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished 4th and 5th fastest respectively ahead of Sebastian Vettel in 6th in the other Ferrari who was a little under a second off the pace.

Haas got both their cars in the top 10 with Kevin Magnussen getting 7th fastest with team mate Romain Grosjean 9th. The Haas’ were split by Carlos Sainz in the Renault in 8th and with Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.

The threat of rain hung in the air and the session was off to a busy start. The rain, however, did not materialise with just a few spots of drizzle falling which did not cause any problems.

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP1)@LewisHamilton tops the first session of the weekend in Shanghai 💪#F1 #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 pic.twitter.com/q1RQcrOqHX

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2018

Free Practice 2

While everyone thought that Hamilton might run away with things this weekend, FP2 went the other way. The top 4 were all within 0.108s of each other. Hamilton finished the fastest in the session but only by 0.007s from Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari.

Bottas was 3rd fastest 0.033s off the pace while Vettel placed 4th 0.108s off the pace.

Max Verstappen was 5th fastest ahead of Hulkenberg in the Renault in 6th and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas in 7th. Carlos Sainz got his Renault again into the top 10 finishing 8th with Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull in 9th.

Rounding out the top 10 was Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton and Raikkonen had a few off track excursions while Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Williams’ Lance Stroll both spun out on track. The wind and cool weather made things tricky for some.

Stoffel Vandoorne’s session came to an early end after he left the pits with a loose wheel. McLaren were subsequently fined 5000 Euros.

The long run pace between the Ferrari’s and Mercedes is very close and together with their one lap pace it is shaping up to be a good weekend for the fans. Red Bull are also in the mix with their race pace.

With pace so close, who ever makes a mistake in qualifying will be punished quite severely.

FP2 INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (90/90 MINS): Nip and tuck between Mercedes and Ferrari #ChineseGP 🇨🇳 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PsqrotVSfk

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2018